Current Project - Shown above are some renderings for the Greater Peoria Mass Transit Department, CityLink, Peoria, IL. This project is currently under construction and is slated for completion in 2023-24.
As part of the design team at Muller 2, we designed new administration building and maintenance garage & body shop and redesigned their entire bus fleet storage and site parking.
I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of this CDOT’s Chicago Navy Pier Bike Path Project while working with Muller 2 Architects, as the design ‘subcontractors’ to TY Lin who were the ‘Prime’ to the City.
The bike path at Navy Pier is a distinct circulation route dedicated only to pedestrians and bicyclists, providing them their own safe path to travel without any interference from any vehicular traffic. The route is an elevated extension to the existing 18.5 mile long lake front trail that ascends up around Ohio St- North of the Navy pier and meets the upper level bridge structure and goes down to the Jane Addams Park. Phase 1 was completed in 2017; Phase 2 began in October 2017 and was completed in 2020. Phase 2 connects with Phase 1 at the Ogden slip and continues to the South via the movable bridge.
This bridge was designed by Muller 2 and I got to perform CA in phase 2 of this job when I joined the firm. The unique design of the bike path is characterized by a sleek and slender steel tube spine that supports an almost flat concrete pathway that is punctuated at the top - horizontally by a modular system of hand rail, guard rails and rail posts. The steel cables together with the rails, accentuate the horizontality of the structure while the lower portion of the elevated path is almost floating in air- offering stunning views of the lake and the Chicago skyline.
Columns supporting the elevated structure rest on micro-pile footings. These footings were drilled to reach a bottom of about 95 feet before hitting bedrock. Concrete is pumped into these tubes at calculated speeds and pressure while at the same time, the displaced water is dredged out into a separate container. The incredible coordination of various trades on barges with crews operating cranes to drill the micro piles was spectacular. This project’s success can be attributed to the logistical coordination of the numerous trades involved- the welders, the steel fabricators, the earth workers, the concrete workers, the electricians and the painters. In addition to the flyover bike path project, several other improvements were made to the lake front including new sheet piling along the entire shoreline and new parks.
Shown above are some examples from one of the Chicago Department of Aviation’s Projects at Muller 2. I was part of the construction documentation phase on that project in Fall 2019.
I have worked on many new and existing renovation projects for the Whole Foods Market in and around Chicago, IL, while I was employed with Stewart Nosky Architects. WFM, Park Ridge was one of the first ones, which was a brand new, ground up 35,000+ SF shell and interior construction. the project design took less than a year and construction was completed in about 12 months. I was part of the architecture team on all phases of design and construction- including CA. Other WFM new interior renovation projects that I worked on in Chicago - Streeterville, Edgewater, DePaul, Wheaton, Indianapolis, St Louis, St Paul and Ann Arbor.
HLMC Healthy Living Market and Café in Saratoga Springs, New York was yet another large grocery store project with a foot print of over 40,000 SF. HLMC was a replacement to the outgoing JC Penny Anchor store within the Wilton Mall in 2012-2013. As part of the team at SNA, we provided architectural design services and complete construction coordination for this project. I had to fly out twice a month from Chicago to the job site during construction which ran for 6 to 8 months. This project was extremely well coordinated and rather large & complex at the same time. DEW corp. was the GC on this job.
Perhaps one of the most influential projects in my career has been the Burj Dubai project while I worked with SOM, Chicago. Now known as the Burj Khalifa, this super tall building was completed in 2009. Already in its 3rd year of construction at the time I was introduced to the team, I had the amazing opportunity to be part of the CA and design teams on this project in the Chicago office. I also got to work on the Tower Park landscape development, the Burj chairman’s suites and the Burj Art program. Other projects I worked on includes the design for the new Philippines stock exchange and CA for the Trump tower in Chicago. I designed the T-shirt for Team SOM for the Dragon Boat Race 2018 along with my then coworker, Cindy Zamora.
I worked on several Hospitality projects for the Hyatt and the Hilton group while I was employed with NORR Chicago. Most important among them was the Hyatt House- HH at Westchester, Ohio, which was a brand new construct scheduled for 2019/ 2020. I was part of the design team and I worked on the SD and the DD phases of the project.
Shown above are some slides of my early work from Cordogan, Clark and Associates in Chicago, RYS Architects in San Francisco, Pragrup Architects in Bangalore, India, The Landscape company in Bangalore and my very first architectural training at Venkataramanan Associates, Bangalore, India.
Projects I worked on at Cordogan Clark and Associates include Interior buildouts for the University of Chicago, interior renovations to The Betty Rhymer Art Gallery for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and St John the Baptist church project in Des Plaines, IL.
Projects I worked on at RYS Architects include several design development and construction drawing sets for various Hospitality projects for the Hilton group during my one year internship there.
Projects I worked on at Pragrup Architects include both design development and construction administration for several small and large residences. I particularly got to design stone facade detailing, flooring patterns, front door designs, mural designs, compound wall designs and many more.
Projects I worked on for the Landscape company include a Site plan proposal for the Amby Valley, a Golf course, A forest resort in Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka, The spastic society, Bangalore, Project Sea Bird in Karwar for the Indian navy and new landscape proposals for a few residential projects.